And just as I made the effort to speak, I felt a sharp pain gnaw at my tummy. It was intense. It was excruciating. I grabbed at my tummy and squeezed it with both hands.
“Ah! My tummy!” I moaned in pain, my eyes rolling in distress.
“Rosemary! Rosemary! What is wrong with you?” my mother cried out. She held me face in her hands and sat down beside me on the bed.
“Daddy Rosemary! Daddy Rosemary! Come o, come and see your daughter o!” my mum screamed.
“My dad was apparently preparing for work then. He promptly dashed out of the room.
“What is it? Why are you shouting?” he asked mother.
“See o, see your daughter! See your blood everywhere!” she pointed to the several blood stains. “She is in pain, she can’t even speak!”
“Rosemary, what is wrong with you?” I could hear my father talking to me. But I couldn’t speak. The pain was getting intense. I slid from the bed and lay on the floor. It was like life was slowly leaving me.
“Rosemary! Rosemary! Get up!” my father tried to lift me up.
“Ah! Daddy Rosemary, help me carry her o! Let’s take her to the hospital” That was the last thing I heard. My vision became a blur. The images of my mother and father began to fade away before me as I struggled to keep my eyes open. But it was a futile effort. I couldn’t fight to stay conscious anymore. And very slowly, my eyelids came together and were firmly shut as I blanked out completely. The only thing I could see in front of me was total darkness….
I cannot really tell for how long I must’ve been unconscious. But it must’ve been a while because by the time I opened my eyes again, I was in a hospital and my mother was pacing up and down the room, praying like the prayer warrior that she was. I could sight my father seated on a chair in a corner of the room. There was also a face I couldn’t recognize. A lady. It turned out she was one of the nurses at the hospital. My head was a little groggy. I couldn’t really open my eyes clearly but I could well enough to know I was in a hospital and tell the faces of those with me in the room. .
I didn’t let them know I was already unconscious. I kept my eyes shut again and only opened it slightly when I ever heard someone speak. I needed to know what had happened to me. I needed to know if my big secret had been blown into the open and everyone now knows I was pregnant. This was the best way I felt I could prepare myself for the questions and the heat that would follow if indeed my parents were aware I was pregnant.
“Nurse, please, check her again, is she breathing? Is she okay? Has something happened to her?” my mother said to the nurse.
“Don’t worry, ma, your daughter is okay, she only passed out because she lost quite a bit of blood. You can see I checker her up moments ago, “the nurse assured her. All the while as they spoke to each other, I kept my eyes shut. Not even the nurse could tell I had become conscious.
“But its been almost twenty minutes that you last checked on her, please take a look at her again, she’s not even shaking or moving her body…”
“Woman! Leave the nurse alone and let her do her job,” that was my father. His voice was harsh and firm. He only referred to mum as woman when he was upset about something. “She has told you there is nothing wrong with your daughter, but I assure you plenty will be wrong with her soon if she cannot explain to me where she got her pregnancy from!”
Daddy Rosemary, please, just take it easy, let her be alright first, then we can start finding out from her what actually happened, you know our daughter has never been a wayward girl, please…” mother pleaded.
That was when I knew the game was up for me. My heart started to beat pretty hard and fast. I was in really big trouble. Despite everything I did and went through, my parents still got to find out I am pregnant. I could instantly see my father beating the life out of me. I could see the neighbours mocking me and the kids jeering at me and my protruding belly. I was going to be humiliated. I didn’t know when the tears started coursing down my face. That was when the doctor came in.
“Ah, doctor, welcome, please, help us check, how is she now?” mother ran to meet the doctor he immediately he stepped into the room.
“It’s okay, madam, just give me a minute,” I tried to keep my eyes steady but the fear pounding in my heart wouldn’t let me. The moment the doctor got to my bed and lifted up my hand to examine me, the tears bust through the gates of my eyes. I open my eyes as I started to cry my heart out…
“It’s okay, young lady, you’re in safe hands now, you’re in the hospital,” the doctor said to me. He seemed a kind hearted man. But he didn’t know my tears were not flowing because I feared I was not safe, it was because of the fear of what would happen to me the minute my father confirms what the problem with me is.
“Rosemary, what happened to you? Doctor, talk to us, what is the problem with our daughter?” my mother turned to the doctor, almost dragging him down on the seat behind him.
“Madam, please, you have to calm down. Your daughter is very traumatized right now and weak as well, so we need to give her time to rest.”
“Time to rest? But doctor, she has been resting since,” mother insisted. “When we brought her here, she was unconscious. You attended to her, examined her and said she was alright. Now that she’s awake you say she needs to rest again, what is going on? And why is she crying like this? Rosemary, what’s going on?”
“Doctor, look, we are not kids, we are the biological parents of this girl,” my father joined in the conversation. “Whatever the problem is, let us know. Talk to us. What exactly is wrong with our daughter?”
“You will have to give us some few minutes to examine her some more, sir, just be patient, I will have a full report ready for you soon,” the doctor said to my dad. I could see it in father’s eyes that he was deeply troubled. He was merely waiting for the doctor to tell him what the problem is before he knows exactly how to respond.
The doctor leans forward, and as he examines me by looking closely into my eyes, he bent over and whispers into my ears, “I know you’re trying to get rid of a pregnancy. I will help you get it out of your womb but I will have to tell your parents the truth, okay? Don’t worry, you’ll be alright.”
Slowly, I nodded, tears silently running down my face. And he continued to examine me, taking his time and taking down notes in his small jotter. When he was done, he turned to mum and Dad, please follow me to my office.
They left with him to his office. And I waited patiently for what would follow after the doctor breaks the news to my parents. It seemed to have taken them eternity. Then, suddenly, the door flung open and my father appeared….
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